Lori Chartier, right, of 82 Hilltop Drive in Cranston, points out where her yard borders the Mulligan’s Island golf complex, where a developer proposes to build two big-box stores and three other buildings. At left is neighbor Rachel McNally, holding son Ben.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers Kathy Borchers

CRANSTON — For a long time, residents of Oak Hill Terrace have considered themselves lucky.

Their small neighborhood is wedged between two of the busiest roads in the city — New London and Oaklawn avenues — but thanks to winding streets and the quiet buffer of a golf complex, the 1940s-era plat has remained an enclave of quiet with an old-fashioned sense of community, they say.

Neighbors host a block party every summer and celebrate holidays together; one of them bundles up as Santa Claus and takes a seat on his front porch every December so children can deliver their Christmas wishes in person.

Now the residents of Oak Hill Terrace are banding together for another reason — girding to fight a major developer’s plan to purchase the New London Avenue golf complex that abuts their northern border and turn the roughly 55-acre site into a major retail development featuring two big-box stores and three other commercial buildings.

“This plan would destroy centrally located open space, bring down the values of surrounding properties, and cause significant light, noise and traffic pollution to a peaceful part of our city,” the residents declared on a recently launched Web site.

Working under the name “Save Cranston’s Open Space,” they have enlisted the support of Ward 6 City Councilman Jeffrey Barone and are reaching out to other officials as well as other neighborhoods, saying that a major development at the south end of New London Avenue would mean an eyesore and traffic headaches for the entire city.

Several council members met with residents last night at the homeowners’ second organizational meeting.

Last month, Providence developer Church & Banks Ltd. submitted plans to convert the Mulligan’s Island golf complex into a development of five stores, including two big-box stores measuring about 119,500 and 117,900 square feet.

No prospective tenants are listed on the application, but residents say that after scrutinizing the plans — which include a location for 12 gas pumps near one of the bigger buildings and a nursery center near the other one — they are fairly convinced that instead of staring at trees and fairways, they would to be looking at a BJ’s wholesale warehouse and Home Depot.

The proposal, which will be reviewed by the Planning Commission at a June 5 meeting, will end up before the City Council because it needs both a zoning change and an alteration to the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

The land, which years ago served as cornfields for inmates at the state prison to till, is designated open space. In the late 1990s, Mulligan’s — which includes a miniature golf course, batting cages, a nine-hole executive course and pitch-and-putt greens — was allowed to partially develop the property under a restrictive process called a “mixed-use plan.”

The process essentially tailors what is allowed on a parcel to match a specific proposal and does not allow any variances in use or changes to the property. At the time, city officials said Mulligan’s would provide a much-needed recreation site city while preserving open space.

“I think that one of the worst things about this is that the land is supposed to be open space, and we don’t have much of in this part of the city” said Oak Hill resident Dan Meuse, one of the organizers of the neighbors group. Meuse and others say they are particularly outraged because they did their homework before buying their homes and checked the zoning of the golf complex.

Greg O’Brien, a consultant for Churchill & Banks, said yesterday that no leases have been signed. Selecting a golf complex for commercial development is not that unusual, he said, because that recreation industry is flagging in New England.

“The reality of the situation is that the golf business is on the wane, and golf courses and other golf facilities are being converted to commercial uses throughout New England,” O’Brien said. “We believe this is a good project for Cranston and an appropriate use of the site.”

O’Brien said the project would create jobs and bring in tax dollars to the city. Also, he said, Churchill & Banks is sensitive to neighbors’ concerns and would use unobtrusive lighting in the parking lots to minimize disturbance to nearby homes and would enclose all refuse and loading dock areas.

The firm has already sent representatives out to talk to neighbors and will continue to try to answer their questions in attempt to “be a good neighbor,” he said.

City planning officials say there have been many calls opposing the project. In anticipation of a large crowd, the Planning Board has moved the June 5 meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m., from City Hall to Cranston High School West.

Meuse and neighbor Rachel McNally say that residents’ concerns include worries about light, noise and water pollution in the form of storm runoff from the huge paved parking lot. They are also upset that the plans call for the removal of all the trees that currently fringe the fairways, and that the elevation of the site would put it at rooftop level for some homes in Oak Hill Terrace. (O’Brien said they would be shielded by an earthen berm planted with evergreen trees.)

Meuse and McNally said the development would also impinge on public property, with the plans calling for the southern portion of the development to be accessed from New London Avenue by a four-lane road that, if allowed, would supplant a city ballfield.

“This is such a bad idea in so many ways,” said Ledgewood Drive resident Steven Saccoccio. “This is going to literally be in people’s back yards, and it is a quality-of-life issue for anyone in Cranston who doesn’t want to see us become another Bald Hill Road in Warwick.”

bpoliche@projo.com